Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: row Clear Filter

Bits 0x02: switching to orion as a browser

bits 0x02: switching to orion as a browser July 24, 2025 The most interesting thing I wanna share is my browser switch. I’ve always been using Arc. As that is done, I made the switch to Zen. Pretty buggy but ok. The biggest problem I had was the power draw. As I’m preparing a more nomadic lifestyle, I really need to care for my battery. The power draw is really just way too high. By accident, I stumbled upon Orion. I’ve had it in the back of my head but for whatever reason never even looked at

IBM Keyboard Patents

JavaScript disabled or not supported It appears you have prevented JavaScript from running in your web browser or are using a web browser that does not support JavaScript. Admiral Shark's Keyboards presently requires JavaScript for quality-of-life features like switching between light/dark mode, navigating via title or image and copying search query links, and is necessary for the keyboard matrix simulators, keyboard property modals, interactable slideshows and image size optimisation. Please c

One of the hottest new browsers is also the best thing that’s happened to my YouTube experience

Adamya Sharma / Android Authority We hadn’t even heard of agentic AI until recently, and now suddenly, companies like Google, OpenAI, and others are betting big on the tech. These aren’t just chatbots that answer your questions; they’re smart assistants that actually get things done for you. Think of it as AI with initiative. An agentic AI won’t just help you find the best coffee shop in your area — it’ll figure out what beans they use, order them for you from Amazon, and even schedule a recurr

The natural diamond industry is getting rocked. Thank the lab-grown variety

When Aret Oymakas started selling diamonds years ago, engagement ring shoppers came in looking for one thing for their brides-to-be: a real, mined diamond. "It was just a diamond," said Oymakas, owner of Livia Diamonds in Toronto. "And you got what you were able to get … in terms of design and budget." These days, not so much. Lab-grown diamonds have become massively popular in recent years, giving the traditional, mined version a run for its money. Oymakas says natural diamonds made up 100

Astronomer winks at viral notoriety with ‘temporary spokesperson’ Gwyneth Paltrow

After spending the past week-plus in the headlines due to a seemingly inescapable social media scandal, data operations startup Astronomer is trying to shift the narrative with a tongue-in-cheek video starring actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow. Paltrow was, of course, previously married to Coldplay singer Chris Martin. And it was at a Coldplay concert in Massachusetts that the company’s CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot were apparently caught dancing together on the “

SAVE Student Loan Borrowers, You Have Only a Few Days Left Before Interest Restarts. Should You Move to IBR?

Interest will restart for SAVE borrowers whose loans remain in a general forbearance on Aug. 1. Viva Tung/CNET If you're a student loan borrower enrolled in SAVE, you have about a week left to switch repayment plans before interest will begin accruing on your loans. But although interest payments will kick in, the change doesn't mean you have to switch repayment plans yet. Earlier this month, the Department of Education announced that on Aug. 1 interest would resume for the nearly 8 million bo

What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

U NTIL 1700 the world economy did not really grow—it just stagnated. Over the previous 17 centuries global output had expanded by 0.1% a year on average, a rate at which it takes nearly a millennium for production to double. Then spinning jennies started whirring and steam engines began to puff. Global growth quintupled to 0.5% a year between 1700 and 1820. By the end of the 19th century it had reached 1.9%. In the 20th century it averaged 2.8%, a rate at which production doubles every 25 years.

Do not download the app, use the website

The 2010s was the Wild West of the mobile world. "Mobile-first" was the buzzword, much like "AI-first" is today. Every company, from the biggest social media giants to your local pizza parlor, seemed to be pestering you to download their app. There was a genuine hype train, and everyone was on board. The apps, frankly, were always mediocre, and a far cry from the full functionality of their website counterparts. But the message was clear. If you weren't on mobile, you were falling behind. Fast

Nullable but not null

When working on backend applications, especially those with evolving database schemas, it’s common to see a recurring pattern: A new field is added to a model. To avoid locking the table during the migration, the field is added as nullable. The application logic is updated to start filling in this field. A backfill job runs to populate the existing records. The field is left as nullable. People often forget the final step which is updating the schema to make the field non-nullable once the dat

nullable but not null

When working on backend applications, especially those with evolving database schemas, it’s common to see a recurring pattern: A new field is added to a model. To avoid locking the table during the migration, the field is added as nullable. The application logic is updated to start filling in this field. A backfill job runs to populate the existing records. The field is left as nullable. People often forget the final step which is updating the schema to make the field non-nullable once the dat

Web fingerprinting is worse than I thought (2023)

If you are reading this article, you are most likely using a web browser, and you have some expectations or beliefs about online privacy and security. For example, I do not know what you are reading on other tabs on your web browser, and you would like to keep it that way. But the websites themselves know that you are reading a particular page on their website. They most likely know your IP address and if you are signed in to their website, they also know your identity. This is not unreasonable

This might be the only Google Chrome alternative that could rip me away from Firefox

Andy Walker / Android Authority Choosing a web browser is a deeply personal decision, as I’ve learned from reading spicy comments on various forums over the years. I’ve been loyal to Firefox for a long time, but Mozilla’s recent missteps and the browser’s growing flaws have started to bitter my experience. So, I explored the Play Store for sweeter alternatives and stumbled across a potential candidate: Banana Browser. What Chromium-based browser do you use? 60 votes I use Google Chrome. 43 % I

Bus Bunching

When two or more buses are scheduled at regular intervals on the same route, planners may expect that each will make the same progress, pausing at each stop for the same interval (1). But if Bus B is delayed by traffic congestion (2), it incurs a penalty: Because it arrives late to the next stop, it will pick up some passengers who’d planned to take Bus C (3). Accommodating these passengers delays Bus B even longer, putting it even further behind schedule. Meanwhile, Bus C begins to make unusual

Mission Barns is betting that animal-free pork fat will make artificial meat delicious

An old colleague always had a curious request at lunchtime. For health reasons, he was vegetarian, but he still missed the taste of ground beef. So he’d ask the chef in the cafeteria for a veggie burger that was cooked next to the beef patties. The grease that seeped over made the plant substitute taste that much better. The folks at Mission Barns must have overheard our lunchtime conversation. They have developed animal-free, cultured pork fat. The product just received approval from the U.S.

Yes, You Can Still Get Student Loan Forgiveness With IBR. What You Need to Know

Zooey Liao/CNET/Getty Images Student loan forgiveness options have dwindled considerably during President Donald Trump's second administration, but the Department of Education says forgiveness through Income-Based Repayment isn't going away. However, it is on pause. The Federal Student Aid website says IBR forgiveness is on hold while the Education Department retools its system to recalculate eligible payments. "IBR forgiveness will resume once those updates are completed," said an FAQ section

Best Indoor Garden Systems (2025), Tested and Reviewed

FAQ What Are Hydroponics? In the simplest terms, hydroponic gardening means to grow plants without roots in soil. Sometimes the plants are suspended in water, like in the Rise or Gardyn; sometimes they're in pods attached to a wick, like in the Click & Grow; and sometimes they have water sprayed or misted on their roots, like in the Lettuce Grow and Plantaform. Usually this is in concert with an artificial light source, either indoors or in an outdoor enclosure. What Are the Benefits of Hydro

460,000 Student Loan Borrowers Seeking Lower Payments Will Be Denied. What to Do If You're One of Them

The Department of Education will deny nearly half a million student loan borrowers who applied for the lowest repayment plan based on their income. Getty Image/Zooey Liao/CNET Nearly half a million federal student loan borrowers who applied for lower monthly payments will be denied by the Department of Education. Based on internal documents obtained by Politico, the department is rejecting 460,000 student loan borrowers who selected the lowest payment option based on their income. For most app

Threads adds improved content performance metrics for creators

Threads is introducing enhanced metrics to help users better understand how their posts are performing and where their content is getting discovered, the company announced on Tuesday. Users can now see more detailed information in the platform’s “Insights” dashboard. When they navigate to the “Interactions” section, they will see engagement by likes, replies, quotes, and reposts. The “Followers” section shows follower growth with geographic data, including top cities and countries, and demograp

Finally! Chrome is getting vertical tabs - why I'm a huge fan, and where you can try them now

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Chrome is catching up to other browsers with vertical tabs. This feature has been requested for years and is already available in several popular browsers, such as Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi. And given that Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi are also based on Chromium, this should have been a no-brainer for Google all along. No more third-party extensions Well, according to Windows Report, the Chromium Gerrit (a code review system for Chromium projects) now

How to Firefox

Chrome finally pulled the trigger on the web’s best ad-blocker, uBlock Origin. Now that Chrome has hobbled uBO, Firefox—my beloved— is surging again. I want to do my part to convince you to switch to Firefox and show you how I use it. Why Firefox Let’s get through the important talking points, in case you need a quick copy paste to convince a friend. 100% open-source Un-enshittify the web Android users rejoice Customize to your heart’s content 100% open-source This section can be quick. H

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Is Haunting My Browser

Most people’s browser tabs are filled with unread news articles. Mine are filled with AI agents and ghost clicks. I have four instances of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent—the generative AI tool released last week, which can run searches and perform tasks on the web—already open with each running in its own tab. I’ve given these first four agents relatively simple jobs based on ChatGPT’s suggestions. One is clicking around to find a birthday gift on the Target website, and another is generating a pitch d

Crowdstrike’s massive cyber outage 1-year later: lessons enterprises can learn to improve security

Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now As we wrote in our initial analysis of the CrowdStrike incident, the July 19, 2024, outage served as a stark reminder of the importance of cyber resilience. Now, one year later, both CrowdStrike and the industry have undergone significant transformation, with the catalyst being driven by 78 minutes that changed everything. “The first anniv

SAVE Student Loan Borrowers Are Up Against an Aug. 1 Deadline. Here's What Experts Suggest

Interest will restart for SAVE borrowers whose loans remain in a general forbearance on Aug. 1. Viva Tung/CNET If you're a student loan borrower enrolled in SAVE, do you have to switch to a new repayment before interest payments restart in August? That's the question on millions of borrowers' minds, but the answer depends on your forgiveness options and financial situation. "It's crucial for borrowers to act based on their own personal situation," said Elaine Rubin, a student loan policy exper

I've launched 37 products in 5 years and not doing that again

After launching 37 different products over the last few years, I’ve had one go viral and almost all the others struggle to get any traction at all. Like many indie makers, I used to think the best strategy was to just keep launching, make more bets, and hope one finally catches fire. But here’s what I’ve learned: Virality is rare and nearly impossible to predict Most of my launches that failed didn’t actually fail, they just grew much slower than I expected My current project, Refgrow, took

Dia launches a skill gallery, Perplexity to add tasks to Comet

AI-powered browsers are nowhere near the easy future they promise, when they would be able to do complex multi-step tasks for you. However, the makers of these browsers are trying to make users’ lives easier by adding a way to easily repeat some prompts for the tasks they frequently perform. The Browser Company’s new Dia browser already has a skills feature, which lets users ask the browser to execute a command or create a code snippet based on a prompt. For instance, you could ask the browser

AI Will Replace Recruiters and Assistants in Six Months, Says CEO Behind ChatGPT Rival

Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of the ambitious AI startup Perplexity, has a clear and startling vision for the future of work. It begins with a simple prompt and ends with the automation of entire professional roles. “A recruiter’s work worth one week is just one prompt: sourcing and reach outs,” Srinivas stated in a recent interview with The Verge’s Decoder” podcast, a prediction that serves as both a mission statement for his new AI-powered browser, Comet, and a stark warning for the modern knowl

The borrowchecker is what I like the least about Rust

Written 2025-07-18 Among the 2010's cohort of programming languages, Rust is probably the most widely lauded. The main selling point of Rust is that it manages to combine speed and low-level control with a high level of bug-resistance, more commonly referred to as safety. The main innovation of Rust - really, its claim to fame - is its borrowchecker: the part of its compiler that enforces Rust's ownership rules and thereby allows Rust to achieve all the memory safety that garbage collected lan

At Least 750 US Hospitals Faced Disruptions During Last Year’s CrowdStrike Outage, Study Finds

When, one year ago today, a buggy update to software sold by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike took down millions of computers around the world and sent them into a death spiral of repeated reboots, the global cost of all those crashed machines was equivalent to one of the worst cyberattacks in history. Some of the various estimates of the total damage worldwide have stretched well into the billions of dollars. Now a new study by a team of medical cybersecurity researchers has taken the first